Investment Advice & Wealth Management

Independent Investment Advisers in London

When considering whether to appoint an advisor or wealth manager the first thing to decide is whether or not the advisor should have discretionary powers or maintain a consulting advisory relationship and include the investor in changes to investment strategy or assets. A good adviser comes with years of experience and specialist knowledge, while taking liability for the advice. However advice comes at an additional cost, so regular assessment of the value added should be undertaken to see if a change or removal of this ‘outsourced specialist’ is warranted.

Boutique Wealth Management with bespoke portfolios

At Holder & Combes, we construct investment portfolios to meet our clients’ objectives and agreed appetite for risk. We use all asset classes, from equity and bonds to managed futures, and can even access hedge funds where suitable. Managing the expected returns of the mix of investments is key to our investment planning approach.

The firm has a four stage process for managing our clients’ private wealth:

1. Fact Finding & Goal Planning

Analyse Assets and Liabilities

Establish Target Income / Capital and date(s) required Sum

Establish any Specific Requirements – Ethical / Social

Scenario Planning – Risk/Investment Inputs

2. Attitude to Risk & Asset Allocation

Complete bespoke H&C Risk Questionnaire

Discussion on the volatility of different investment assets

Design a suitable mix of assets to generate expected/desired return

3. Tax Wrapper/Product & Fund Research and Monitoring

Pension / ISA / OEIC / UT / Bond / EIS / VCT / Structured Product

Investment Fund Selection

Initial External Research Team – ‘fund filtering’

Extensive Internal Fund research using risk weighted measures of return

4. Review Process

We facilitate three different levels of ongoing service

We monitor the investment recommendations

Complete review of all our recommended funds on a regular basis

We actively make ad hoc changes as and when required

Rebalance assets to fit allocation model to maintain expected return

Regular face to face reviews

Why Invest?

Cash deposits are useful for holding emergency monies for exploding boilers or short periods of unemployment, but inflation erodes the value of cash over the medium and long term meaning cash is not actually as safe as many people believe. Moreover cash savings accounts currently provide poor value for money.

With inflation hovering at close to 0%, many people nowadays are reassessing their actual need for instant access cash, and allocating more capital to purchase ‘real assets’ that have a fighting chance of keeping up! This means decisions need to be made about how and where to invest, but investing in the current environment presents a number of challenges.

The choice of retail investment options is mind blowing with new ways and routes to invest seemingly springing up every day.

Online stock brokerage services provide an easy way to purchase everything from shares in FTSE100 companies to derivatives and CFDs to buying an index through ETFs. The thrill of watching the daily price swings is attractive to some and a small portfolio of handpicked shares can, in the right circumstances, produce stellar returns.

Other investors prefer the relative safety of open ended collective investment funds such as Unit Trusts and Open Ended Investment Companies (OEICs) that also provide access to real assets but have professional fund management making the daily buy/sell decisions. From low cost passive funds to high octane UCITSIII absolute return funds, there are literally thousands of retail collectives to choose from, most with daily liquidity.

Why Use Holder and Combes to Manage your Investments?

We’re committed to help our clients manage their financial affairs in an optimum manner, balancing income and savings in a tax-efficient way that maximises returns without impacting their day to day life in the meantime.

Registered in England: 6566662. Registered Office: 20 Little Britain, St Pauls, London, EC1A 7DH. Holder & Combes Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority - Firm Reference Number 574786.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is an agency for arbitrating on unresolved complaints between regulated firms and their clients. Full details of the FOS can be found on its website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.